The Black and the White SOTU Rebuttals

The Black and the White SOTU Rebuttals

Rep. Max­ine Waters, a Cal­i­for­nia Demo­c­rat, will speak at the top of a [Black Enter­tain­ment Tele­vi­sion] News spe­cial after Trump deliv­ers the State of the Union, a BET spokesper­son told Buz­zFeed News. The pro­gram, “Angela Rye’s State of the Union,” is part of a broader part­ner­ship announced just days ago between the net­work and the Demo­c­ra­tic strate­gist and polit­i­cal com­men­ta­tor [Rye]. (…)

The spokesper­son said activists and some elected offi­cials will ana­lyze Trump’s first year in office on the pro­gram, and will talk about “build­ing black pol­i­tics and the value of engage­ment across today’s socio-​political land­scape.” A Demo­c­ra­tic source famil­iar with the pro­duc­tion on Fri­day night told Buz­zFeed News that it wasn’t imme­di­ately clear if the pro­gram would air on Tues­day or Wednes­day night.

Although it may not be her intent, Waters runs the risk of step­ping on her own party’s response to the president’s speech — Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-​Mass.) will be deliv­er­ing the Demo­c­ra­tic Party’s offi­cial response Tues­day night, imme­di­ately fol­low­ing the president’s address.

Mon­ica Showal­ter thinks that the Demo­c­rat Party didn’t pick the more well-​known Waters for the main­stream rebut­tal because the party sus­pects that Ms. Waters might embar­rass them — some­thing that is far from unprece­dented. But it’s impor­tant to remem­ber that the con­gress­woman — along with sev­eral other mem­bers of con­gress — is boy­cotting the State of the Union address, so it would be a bit silly to have her give that speech.

In fact, I don’t think that the lead­er­ship of the Party itself has any­thing to do with the Waters deci­sion. And since Waters said this, “I don’t trust him, I don’t appre­ci­ate him, and I wouldn’t waste my time lis­ten­ing to what he has to say. He does not deserve my atten­tion,” to call Waters’ upcom­ing speech a ‘rebut­tal’ is prob­a­bly a mislabeling.

I’m bet­ting it will be a tantrum and a call to tribalism.

Will I lis­ten to Waters’ speech? Prob­a­bly. Unlike the con­gress­woman and com­pany, I think that there is great value in lis­ten­ing to one’s ide­o­log­i­cal opponent.

Rep. Maxine Waters, a California Democrat, will speak at the top of a [Black Entertainment Television] News special after Trump delivers the State of the Union, a BET spokesperson told BuzzFeed News. The program, “Angela Rye’s State of the Union,” is part of a broader partnership announced just days ago between the network and the Democratic strategist and political commentator [Rye]. (…)

The spokesperson said activists and some elected officials will analyze Trump’s first year in office on the program, and will talk about “building black politics and the value of engagement across today’s socio-political landscape.” A Democratic source familiar with the production on Friday night told BuzzFeed News that it wasn’t immediately clear if the program would air on Tuesday or Wednesday night.

Although it may not be her intent, Waters runs the risk of stepping on her own party’s response to the president’s speech — Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) will be delivering the Democratic Party’s official response Tuesday night, immediately following the president’s address.

Monica Showalter thinks that the Democrat Party didn’t pick the more well-known Waters for the mainstream rebuttal because the party suspects that Ms. Waters might embarrass them — something that is far from unprecedented. But it’s important to remember that the congresswoman — along with several other members of congress — is boycotting the State of the Union address, so it would be a bit silly to have her give that speech.

In fact, I don’t think that the leadership of the Party itself has anything to do with the Waters decision. And since Waters said this, “I don’t trust him, I don’t appreciate him, and I wouldn’t waste my time listening to what he has to say. He does not deserve my attention,” to call Waters’ upcoming speech a ‘rebuttal’ is probably a mislabeling.

I’m betting it will be a tantrum and a call to tribalism.

Will I listen to Waters’ speech? Probably. Unlike the congresswoman and company, I think that there is great value in listening to one’s ideological opponent.

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